lime kilns, Dyrock Valley, Kirkmichael

grouchy

We are going through the worst time in The Pirate's hormone therapy.

This is very trying and tiring for both of us.

Radiotherapy starts  in about a month's time...can't come soon enough!! He'll be less grouchy after seven and a half weeks of that!!

project in progress

I bought some medium weight card today, with the hope that it will pass through the printer.

The new project is inching towards fruition, but so much gets in the way....Life, I suppose, is like that.

The Pirate has remembered that he has some fine wood carving chisels AND knows where to lay his hand on them-a minor miracle at present!!   So as well as reviving my lino printing skills and learning how to use the scanner and printer together with older drawing books, I could extend my skills with woodblock printing.....

I'd still prefer to be working in clay, but it will be creating something.....ANYTHING!!!

It might just bring in some sorely needed income as well.

family visiting

 Yesterday we went to Rozel House in Alloway, home of the Maclaurin Gallery-we walked in the grounds and had coffee and cake in the teashop.

 Today we went to Crosshill, where The Pirate's daughter and grandson stayed

 played softball and then cards, before going for a walk on Prestwick beach after yet another clinic visit for The Pirate. He is paying for a lifetime spent outdoors, with a small rodent ulcer on his face...moral, don't ever forget skin protection....

 

Farewells made, we got the shopping before returning home for a well earned rest.

A walk in Ballantrae

storm damage

At the National Trust for Scotland's property, Culzean castle.

I know beech trees have shallow roots....but there are a lot of trees of all types, gone in the latest storms.

the old romantic....

winter going on spring

 We walked back from Maybole to Kirkmichael last Tuesday, just four miles, and we were following the snowclouds!

 We are about nine miles from the sea...and the seagulls have decided this is safer than there!!

The village gardening club meeting was themed Ornaments....so twenty of us brought an ornament from the garden, and we had to guess who owned which one..ours was the only one with earth and moss on it!!

We're thankful for the velodrome at Glasgow....even though it is nearly a hundred mile round trip...two hours training and tips from a friend I've known and raced with for forty years. He is still a World Champion and also a good coach.
It was the first time he had ridden on the track here as it is a long way from Essex!
We're all making the most of it as the track will be closed for the Commonwealth Games from mid-June to mid-September (I think).

Also.......good coffee!!

water

Inside and out...not only do we still have rain, the source of damp in the house has been traced to a leaky boiler.
The Man is there now, trying to find the leak...seems it could be multiple leaks...I think it just needs an overhaul...as does the woodburner, which has been sulking for two hours and just might be making its mind up to burn now.....if it was fitted properly it would work fine....

Now we'll have the delights of waiting for the lobby floor to be relaid...it was two layers of old vinyl floor over an assortment of concrete/tiles/floorboards/chipboard, paper underlay on top...now sodden...and cheap laminate flooring on top.

Oh, the joys of being in a rented house. At least we don't pay for the repairs and maintenance when they get done.......

we've also found where the water stopcock lives....under the electricity coin meter.....

rain...

Not much point posting a photo of the weather now!    We've had 150% of normal average rainfall this Winter...South East Wales has had 200%...and the further South you go....
But there is another side...The Highlands and Islands here have had 60% and 40%...so what happens, if we have another dry Spring, next Summer?

the birds

Our birdfeeding station. We all have breakfast together!

We have plenty of sparrows, (tree and house ), chaffinches, great tits, cole tits, blue tits and possibly a long tailed tit.   A couple of blackbirds have passed by .
The woodpecker has been to the electricity supply pole across the road occasionally, but we wont see the Yaffle or green woodpecker for  a while.

A cock chaffinch hogged the table for over 15 minutes yesterday, stuffing himself with food and chasing everyone else off- so he thought- others dashed in for a beakful behind his back!

All the chickens have gone from the yard, a couple because they decided to investigate the road outside. Most went to the local fox as they weren't always shut up at night, and Charlie isn't stupid....

I'm not sure that we will be getting our own chickens for a while yet.  We still want to travel and its not fair to pass the responsibility of their care to others.

Spring?!

Friday we travelled South through snow, then returned through heavy rain.
Yesterday we had another day of gales, rain and snow...and this is the Festival of Imbolc this weekend, celebrating the beginning of Spring and the arrival of the first lambs.
Scarcely believe, we thought!
High tides and storms all along the coasts of the British Isles, massive surf..the St. Brigid Wave...in Portugal...

This morning started again with rain...and I rode out on my bike with a friend at 9.30...but by ten o'clock the sun was out and blue sky was showing.
 We rode down to the Club Hut of the Ayr Roads Cycling club,  and The Pirate took the vittles in the car!    It was a two hour ride (it is far from flat!) against a following head wind..the valleys funnelled the wind against us.
Half a mile before the hut we saw the first lambs of the year!!
 By the time we arrived at the hut, not far from Colmonell, we were ready for soup and coffee and cakes and sitting in front of a hot woodburning stove.  The Pirate toasted bagels..."Toast until it smokes, then 20 seconds less" to quote Piet Hein!!

I came home in the car...two hours riding is plenty for me..then after a bath and recover I've been looking in my drawing books for images to use....watch this space!!